After the sunniest May ever recorded, many of our lawns are crying out for rain. Some of our clients are anxious as they see their beautiful, lush green lawns turning brown almost overnight, and they’re asking if watering is the right thing to do right now. First and foremost, our message at this time is please do not panic. Ultimately, only you can decide whether you wish to water or not, and at the moment there are no water restrictions in place. If you turn your mind back just a couple of months, we were all enduring a consistently wet winter and it seemed like the rain would never ease up. The upside of all that rain falling on our lawns is that the reservoirs and aquifers are all still holding plenty of water and there is no sign of a hosepipe ban, certainly not here in the south. For those who would rather not apply water, here are our top five strategy priorities for managing your lawn in dry weather;
How to manage your lawn in dry weather
- Raise your mower height to a mid-high setting, so the grass stays greener for longer and is less stressed.
- Our technicians will only use drought-safe fertiliser products which will be kind to your lawn, and enable it to recover more quickly when rain does arrive. Using this type of product will also avoid artificially scorching the grass.
- Plan ahead for autumn renovation to repair any drought damage. See below for our advice on this.
- Dig out large broad-leafed weeds by hand, to reduce the need for Herbicide application.
- If you do decide to water, do so heavily, once or twice per week rather than little and often, to mimic the effects of natural rainfall. Watering like this will send the moisture deeper into the soil and make the grass dig down to find it. This will result in a stronger, more robust lawn.
The best lawn sprinkler on the market
While we would never advocate watering a lawn when a hosepipe ban is in place, here at Lawntech we would encourage doing so at times like these if you want your lawn to be lush and green. When a lawn turns from lush green to brown and dry, it is not necessarily dying, this is the grass plant going dormant, to conserve its energy so that it can take advantage of the next soaking of water that comes its way. As survival strategies go, it is very effective and we can give the lawn a massive boost by providing the water it’s asking for. In recent weeks we have emailed our clients, with watering advice and a link for those looking to buy what we believe is the best lawn sprinkler on the market today. Here is the product again. https://www.thelawnstore.co.uk/product/lawn-garden-impact-sprinkler/
The watering calculator tool
If you’re concerned about the cost of watering your lawn, we have a new calculating tool. Use the watering calculator tool below to have an indication of how much watering your lawn is likely to cost you. More about this tool is here.
Autumn Lawn Renovations
If, on the other hand, you feel that watering is not right for you at this point, you may already be planning ahead for autumn renovation works. Our package of Scarification, Aeration and Over-seeding is the perfect combination of treatments to revive and regenerate tired, even drought-stressed lawns and we will be carrying out these works in the autumn. If you are thinking about this, please do not delay. 2020 has already thrown a number of curveballs at us, in the form of the aforementioned washout winter and the Covid-19 pandemic. This means we will have an even busier Renovation season than ever as works scheduled for spring are squeezed in to an already hectic autumn. Availability for autumn renovations is now extremely limited, so please book now to secure your reservation. There’s no need to pay until the treatments are done, and we can offer a 6-month interest-free instalment plan too. Please see our Lawn Repair and Renovations page for more details. Whichever way you choose to look after your lawn, the Lawntech Team is always here to help. Feel free to Contact us for advice, at any time.
